احمد معینی

To evaluate the effect of foliar application of Farmax nano fertilizer and Amino Acid on morological traits and photosynthetic pigments of chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), an experiment was conducted based on randomized complete design in aeroponic system and in the independent experiments. The treatments in the effects of Farmax nano fertilizer were including control, 3 and 5 ml/l Farmax nano fertilizer and in the effects of Amino Acid were including control, Amino Acid (3 and 6 mg/l). Foliar application of fertilizers was done at 20, 40 and 60 days after transplanting in aeroponic. After 6 month morphological traits and photosynthetic pigments were measured. Based on the results of the variance analysis, the effect of different Farmax nano fertilizer and Amino Acid on morological traits and photosynthetic pigments were significant. The results in the effect of showed that 5 ml/l of Farmax nano fertilizer has produced the highest of plant height, root length, leaf number, fresh weight of shoot, dry weight of shoot, fresh weight of root, dry weight of root, leaf area, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid. Also the results showed that mrological traits and photosynthetic pigments were increased by the foliar application of amino acids compared to the control. Overall, the results showed that feeding chicory with the Farmax nano fertilizer and Amino Acid could improve the morphological traits and photosynthetic pigments in the plant.

Micropropagation is one of the most important applications of plant tissue culture. Using the micropropagation for strawberry propagation, in addition to producing many plants, can meet the growing need for healthy and disease-free plants. In this study, the in vitro propagation of two strawberry cultivars (cvs. Paros and Pajaro) was investigated using Murashige and Skoog (MS) culture medium. In each cultivar, the effects of hormonal composition of the culture medium (1 mg l-1 BAP and 0.5 mg l-1 NAA + 0.2 mg l-1 BAP) and explant type (nodal bud and terminal bud (big and small) of runners) were studied. All explants provided from the glass greenhouse-grown plants. The in vitro cultures were subcultured three times at an interval of 30 d. The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of explant type was significant for three studied traits (the number of plantlets per explant, the average height of plantlets per explant and the number of roots per explant). The best results for all three traits were obtained using nodal buds. Subculturing significantly increased the number of regenerated plantlets, so that in the third subculture, seven plantlets were obtained from each explant. In general, the results of the present study showed the good efficiency of in vitro culture of nodal buds for the micropropagation of two commercial strawberry cultivars, Pajaro and Paros.

Fusarium wilt disease is one of the most important diseases of melon, which causes damage between 20 and 80% in melon fields. In favorable conditions, the spread of the disease can reach 100%. In the improvement programs, achieving resistant cultivars is considered one of the most important methods of controlling this disease.

In this research, 46 melon landraces were collected from different parts of Razavi, Northern and Southern Khorasan provinces, along with two separate lines, Isabel and Charente T respectively as resistant and sensitive control cultivars to identify new sources of wilt disease resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis. The experiments were carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the greenhouse of the agricultural campus of Tarbiat Modares University. The seeds were grown in trays containing cocopeat and perlite in a ratio of 2:1; fourteen days after cultivation, the roots of the young seedlings were removed from the culture tray and inoculated for two minutes with the isolate Mt13-3a of F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis race 1.2 spore suspension solution, with a concentration of 106 conidium per milliliter. The symptom was evaluated nine days after inoculation. The spread of symptoms on the plants was recorded every day for 30 days until the complete death of the plant. Evaluation of resistance was calculated using the indices of the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), latent period (LP), disease severity index (DSI), and standardized area under the disease progress curve (SAUDPC) in landraces. Investigating the variation of the resistance of the studied landraces based on the mentioned indices was done using analysis of variance and cluster analysis.

The results of the analysis of variance of the data indicated the existence of a significant difference of 1% between the landraces for all four studied indices. Based on the heat map results, there is resistance to race 1.2 of F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis in the genotype Isabel and Tude Qaenat. Also, the cluster analysis of landraces based on Ward's method led to identifying six resistance groups from the 46 landraces studied, along with two differential control lines.

The results of the present research showed that for all four indices of LP, AUDPC, DSI and SAUDPC, there is resistance to race 1.2 of F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis in Isabel genotype as a resistant control and the landraces of Qaenat, Till Magasi, Till Zard, Till Torgh, Laki 1 and Till Keshideh compared to the sensitive control (Charente T).

In many crops, androgenesis is one of the most common methods for in vitro haploid induction. The most effective technique in this system is the isolated-microspore culture, in which haploid cells are reprogrammed to follow the sporophytic pathway. But this pathway has been stopped at the globular shape stage of embryogenesis in eggplant, and efforts are still being made to overcome this problem. In this study, the effects of different concentrations of gum arabic, sucrose, and plant growth regulators (6-Benzylaminopurine, BAP, and 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid, NAA) were evaluated on isolated microspore cultures from two cultivars of eggplant. In cultivar Ricarda, the highest number of microspore-derived calli (711.4 per Petri dish) was produced when 2000 mg/l gum arabic, 2% sucrose, 0.5 mg/l BAP, and 0.5 mg/l NAA were used together. By combining 2600 mg/l gum arabic, 2% sucrose, and 0.5 mg/l BAP and NAA, the cultivar Chantale produced the most calli (230.33 per Petri dish; 5.27-fold higher than the control (43.73 per Petri dish). In addition, the results showed that heart-shaped embryos could be produced in eggplant. The culture of microspores of cultivar Ricarda in NLN medium supplemented with 2600 mg/l of gum arabic, 2% sucrose, 0.5 mg/l BAP, and 0.5 mg/l NAA led to the developmental progression of some of the globular structures. In fact, the globular embryos were induced to develop into heart-shaped embryos, which is a promising step forward in the process of eggplant microspore embryogenesis.

Androgenesis has great potential in plant breeding due to its high efficiency and applicability in many plant species. Anther culture is one of the most common technique to induce haploids in plant breeding programs. In this study, to optimize anther culture of bell pepper, the effects of four darkness periods and five concentration levels of silver nitrate were studied in four commercial hybrids; Kamelot, Inspiration, Plato and Californium. The results showed that increasing dark treatment from six to ten days, increased the percentage of embryogenic anthers and the percentage of regenerated plantlets. The highest percentages of embryogenic anthers and regenerated plantlets were obtained using 10 mg l-1 of silver nitrate and incubating anthers cultured in CP medium for 10 days in darkness. The results also showed that the highest percentage of embryogenic anthers (16.66%) was observed in the interaction effect between 10 mg l-1 of silver nitrate and cv. Plato. Also, among the studied concentrations of silver nitrates, the highest percentage of regenerated plantlets (11.71%) was obtained using 10 mg l-1 of silver nitrate.

A comprehensive utilization of concentrated seawater is crucial in order to promote the development of the desalination industry as a key solution to global freshwater. Debromination of the desalination plant effluent as well as the bromine product extraction are two parallel goals, which have been the subject of many research studies as well as industrial operations. In this investigation, bromine extraction is investigated experimentally form the effluent of the Konarak desalination plant located in Chabahar bay, Iran. For this purpose, an air blow-out method is used, and the effects of the operating parameters including the temperature, pH, and chlorine gas flow rate are examined in a continuous reactor. The parameters are optimized, and the trend is discussed in details. The bromine concentration of the sample collected from the Pozm Tiyab area, close to the plant discharge point, has been determined to be 1.172 g/L using ion chromatography. A pre-concentration procedure is conducted in order to reach a concentration of 3.100 g/L by evaporation. A reactor with the dimensions of 60 mm × 800 mm is designed and assembled for the experimental studies. In order to investigate the operating parameters, a central composition design (CCD) method is used. Among the factors studied, only the chlorine gas flow rate has a substantial effect on the bromine recovery, and the effects of the other two factors are negligible in the pH range of 2-3 and the temperature range of 50-70 °C. At the three chlorine concentrations of 1, 1.5, and 2 L/min, the bromine production increases almost linearly with the increasing chlorination injection rate. The Br2 gas is recovered with a maximum rate of 93.8% and a bromine loss of 185 mg/L in the mother liquid. The optimum operating parameters to achieve this recovery are a pH of 2.5, a temperature of 60 ˚C, and a chlorine gas flow rate of 1.5 L/min.

Table grapes are of important horticultural crops being cultured in many countries. Callus production in grape can be conducted for micropropagation by embryogenesis, gene transferring and secondary metabolites production. In this study the effects of some chemical factors were investigated on grape callus proliferation. In first experiment, the effects of different culture medium (MS, WPM and B5) and different concentrations of NAA (0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mgl-1) and Kinetin (1, 2 and 3 mgl-1) were investigated in a factorial completely randomized design. Also in another experiments the effects of different macroelement salts including NH4NO3, KNO3, CaCl2.2H2O, MgSO4.7H2O and KH2PO4 (at 1, 1.25, 1.5 and 2 times MS medium) and also the effect of different carbohydrate sources (white sugar, grade sucrose and brown sugar) and their concentrations (20, 30 and 40 gl-1) were investigated in a completely randomized design (CRD). The highest callus fresh weight (12.31 g) was obtained from T7 treatment (MS medium with0.5 mg -1NAAand2 mg-1 Kin). Results also indicated that increasing MgSO4.7H2O and NH4NO3 (1.25 and 1.5 times), and also CaCl2.2H2O (1.5 and 2 times) concentrations results in the highest callus fresh weight. Also, results showed that the use of 30 gl-1 brown sugar resulted in the highest callus fresh weight.

The availability of nutrients such as phosphorus in plant, in addition to plant yield increment, could increase growth rate and thus reduce plant growth period. Therefore, identification and overexpression of genes involved in nutrient uptake are the important steps to increase of yield and tolerance to environmental stresses particularly the end seasons stresses. Purple acid phosphatases, one of the most important phosphatase family, play a key role in increasing phosphorus availability in plants. In this study, the effect of knock-out and overexpression of AtPAP17 and AtPAP26 genes (two important members of Arabidopsis thaliana purple acid phosphatase family) on some physiological and phonological traits of Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated under Pi-sufficient (1.25 mM KH2PO4) and Pi-deficient (0 mM KH2PO4) conditions. For this purpose, single and double mutant plants of AtPAP17 and AtPAP26 genes were studied in this research. To confirm the function of mentioned genes in mutant plants, transformed Arabidopsis plants containing the CaMV-35S:AtPAP17 and CaMV-35S:AtPAP26 constructs were studied as overexpressed plants of AtPAP17 and AtPAP26 genes, respectively. The result showed that biomass and phosphorus content of plants increased in single mutant plants as compared to double mutant plants under Pi-sufficient condition. Superiority of single mutant plants as compared to double mutant plants indicated a remarkable contribution of AtPAP17 and AtPAP26 genes in phosphatase compensation network. Our results showed at least one of these genes (AtPAP17 and AtPAP26) activity is essential for increasing phosphorus availability and fast growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. Also, overexpressed plants displayed a significant increase in phosphorus content, flowering percentage, and biomass as compared to WT plants (Col-0). The results of this study showed that AtPAP17 and AtPAP26 genes could be important candidates for developing the plants with high ability of nutrient uptake, especially phosphorus, thereby reducing plant growth period.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the most important food plant and the fourth most important crop in the world. Potato micropropagation can be affected by some factors including the composition and amount of salt of ulture medium c. In this study, the effect of increasing in macro element including CaCl2, MgSO4 and KH2PO4 in culture medium on micropropagation and tuberization of potato using three Agria, savalan and Marfona cultivars in MS medium were examined.

To investigate the effect of different concentration of CaCl2, MgSO4 and KH2PO4 on plantlet growth, three separate experiments were performed with four levels (1, 1.25, 1.5 and 1.75 times as much of base MS medium). Each experiment was performed according to the a completely randomized design (RCD) layout with ten replication. After 30 days, the different traits were measured including shoot length per plantlet, mean of root length per plantlet, number of roots per plantlet, leaf size per plantlet, number of nodes per plantlet and mean of minituber weight per plantlet. Then the regenerated plants were acclimatized and cultured in the field conditions in Damavand city for minituber production and the end of growing season number of minitubers per plant and mean of minituber weight per plant were measured.

The results of increasing CaCl2 in culture medium indicated that the increasing this salt in medium some traits including shoot length per plantlet and mean of root length per plantlet was improved. The result of the effect of KH2PO4 in medium culture indicated that by using most of the salt concentrations in the culture medium, most of the studied traits were significantly better. Also, the use of high concentrations of MgSO4 in the culture medium significantly improved the studied traits.

In general results indicated that the increased of this concentration in macro element in medium culture have significantly increased mean of root length per plantlet, number of roots per plantlet, shoot length per plantlet, number of shoots and number of nodes per plantlet in contrast with control which leads to increased micropropagation rates and save on labor and time. The increased of mean of root length per plantlet and number of roots per plantlet led to fewer plants adapted to be removed. However, in most cases increasing in concentration of macro element in culture medium did not improve number of minitubers per plant and mean of minituber weight per plant.

In Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), leaf and root are the most important medicinal organs containing valuable secondary metabolites. In this research, the effect of foliar application of iron chelate and nano chelate fertilizers on morpho-physiological characteristics of chicory was studied in the aeroponic system.This system is a very suitable method for investigating the effect of nutrients and improving growth and development in different plants under controlled conditions. Experimental treatments included water (control), iron chelate (0.5, 1 and 1.5 g l-1) and iron nano chelate (0.5, 1 and 1.5 g l-1) fertilizers foliar application. Foliar spray was carried out at three stages including 20, 40 and 60 days after seed culture in the aeroponic system on leaf and root ina completely randomized design with five replications. After six months, some morphological and physiological traits were evaluated. The results of ANOVA indicated that the effect of different treatments was significant on plant height, root length, number and area of leaves, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot, photosynthetic pigments and iron content of root and shoot. The results of mean comparison showed that using 1.5 g l-1 of iron nano chelate resulted in the highest plant height (173.5 cm), root length (139.7 cm), root (65.2 g) and shoot (86.1 g) dry weight, leaf area (3448.5 mm2), chlorophylls a (2.43 mg g-1) and b (1.27 mg g-1) and carotenoid (1.25 mg g-1). The control treatment produced the lowest plant height (121.5 cm), root length (92.3 cm), root (15.1 g) and shoot (50.1 g) dry weight, leaf area (2259.6 mm2), chlorophylls a (1.46 mg g-1) and b (0.85 mg g-1) and carotenoid (0.76 mg g-1). In general, the results of this experiment showed a positive effect of iron nano chelate (with a concentration of 1.5 g l-1) foliar spray on the traits studied.

Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) a species of the genus Potyvirus in the family Potyviridae, is one of the most prevalent viruses of canola fields in Iran. So far, commercial resistant lines or varieties against TuMV have not been known in Iran. In this research, the possibility of inducing resistant to TuMV in transgenic canola lines carrying a short fragment of the coat protein gene of the virus was evaluated. Therefore, a 130 nucleotide fragment of TuMV coat protein gene, as sense or antisense orientations, were cloned in the pFGC5941 vector independently and then were transformed to canola cotyledonary (Hayola R-Line 401 variety) explants using Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404. Selection and confirmation of transgenic T0 and T1 lines were carried out via PCR and glufosinate ammonium herbicide (selective marker) resistance assay under greenhouse conditions. After virus inoculation to T1 lines, resistance assay was done by the scoring system. The obtained results confirmed that transgenic lines with sense construction did not show any resistant. However, several transgenic lines with antisense construction showed a different level of resistant to TuMV including delay in symptoms appearance and a decrease in symptoms severity (0-30% of T1 progeny) or symptoms recovery (10-66% of T1 progeny). This is the first report of increased resistant against TuMV via transformation of a short viral fragment sequence with the antisense orientation in canola.

Aeroponic culture is an alternative method for optimizing growth of different plants in controlled conditions. In this study aeroponic system was designed and constructed and then the morphological traits of chicory in this system were compared with the plants cultivated in soil. Also in the another experiment the effects of different NAA concentration (0, 0. 1, 0. 3, and 0. 5 mgl-1) on some morphological traits of chicory in aeroponic systemو based on completely randomized design was investigated. The results indicated that the effects of production system were significant on plant height, root length, number of leaves, volume of the root and dry weights of the shoot and root. Also result showed that 0. 5 mg/l of NAA hormone has produced the highest of leaf number (59), root length (76 cm) and volume (17. 9 cm), plant height (152. 4 cm), dry weight of root (6. 1 g) and shoot (15. 3 g) and fresh weight of root (18. 1 g) and shoot (51. 3 g).

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is one of the most important vegetable plants in Solanaceae family. In this research, androgenesis by anther culture has investigated in two eggplant cultivars including Chantal and Valentina. For this reason the effects of the BAP (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 mg l-1), Kin (4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 and 7 mg l-1) and NH4NO3 (0, 1238, 1547.5, 1857, 2166.5 and 2476 mg l-1) concentrations were investigated in the independent experiments. These experiments were performed according to a factorial experiment in a randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) layout with three replications and each replication contained a unique Petri dish containing 9 ml C medium with 12 anthers. The results of analysis of variance showed a significant interaction between the cultivars and treatments. The highest plant regeneration in cultivar Chantal was obtained by the use of 6 mg l-1Kin and 4 mg l-1 BAP (27.7 and 25 %, respectively). The highest plant regeneration in cultivar Valentina was produced by the treatments containing 7 mg l-1 Kin and 5 mg l-1 BAP (27.8 and 19.6 %, respectively). Also results indicated that the increased concentrations of NH4NO3 has improved the anther culture efficiency in eggplant. In cultivars Chantale and Valentina 31 and 13 plants were obtained, respectively. Then 10 plants were randomly selected in each cultivar, and their ploidy levels were determined through flow cytometry. The results showed that in cultivars Chantale and Valentina, 40 and 50% of the plants were haploid, respectively.

The most important purpose of alfalfa breeding programs is forage yield improvement. The objective of this study was to determine general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) of alfalfa forage dry matter yield, plant height, number of stem, regrowth rate and leaf to stem ratio. A half diallel crosses (9×9) was performed by eight alfalfa ecotypes from different climatic regions of Iran and one cultivar from America. Experimental field was established in early autumn of 2013 which included 36 F1 hybrids with nine of their parents in a complete block design with three replications at Plant and Seed Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran. The results of diallel analysis for two growth seasons (2014-2015) indicated high significant variation among crosses, GCA and SCA effects. Interactions of GCA and SCA with environment were significant for forage dry matter yield. The hybrids of Ghahavand × Nikshahri and Mohajeran × silvana indicated positive significant SCA for forage dry matter yield and regrowth, while, the hybrid of Kozare × Yazdi exhibited positive SCA for forage dry matter yield, plant height, re-growth rate and also leaf to stem ratio. This study indicated that the possibility of improvement forage yield and other agronomic traits through crosses among alfalfa ecotypes.

In orther to evaluate the response of two genotypes of Damask rose (Rosa damascena) to exogenous ethylene, this research was conducted in randomized design (CRD). The cut stems of Damsk rose containg buds or/and open flowers, or single buds or flowers were exposed to exogenous ethylene. Placing plant organs inside the glass chambers, ethylen was injected inside the hearmatically seald chambers, geting 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 µl/l concentration. biocehmival characteristics and enzyme activities were determind by evaluation of content of anthocyanin, flavonoide and proline or activity of catalase, peroxide lipid. Anthocyanin, proline and catalase activity in both ecotypes studied showed a reduction. (MDA) in the treatment of ethylene highest concentration showed Azaran ecotype. Reducing the content of flavonoids in Azaran was much less than Kashan. As well as reduce the total protein in Kashan was lower than Azaran. Based on the results obtained, Kashan ecotype as superior tolerant ecotype for use in breeding programs are recommended.

Potato (Solanumtuberosum L.) is the fourth most important food crop in the world. Potato micropropagation can be affected by some factors including the type of culture container, carbohydrate source and gelling agent.
In this study, the effects of above-mentioned different factors were investigated on the micropropagation of three potato cultivars (Agria, Marfona and Savalan) using MS medium. The effects of two type gelling agents (Agar Agar (7 gl-1)and Phytagel (3.5 gl-1) ), three carbohydrate sources (grade sucrose, table sugar, brown sugar (30 gl-1) ) and different culture containers (test tube, small glass bottle (110 × 60 mm), large glassbottle (150 × 95 mm) and polypropylenecontainer (90 × 90 ×110 mm) ) were investigated in the separated experiments. Each experiment was performed according to a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) with 10 replications. After 30 days, different traits including shoot length per plantlet, mean of root length per plantlet, number of roots per plantlet, leaf size per plantlet, number of nodes per plantlet and mean of minituber weight per plantletwere measured.The regenerated plants were acclimatized and cultured in the field conditions for minituber production.
The results indicated that the medium containing agar-agar as gelling agent had the highest shoot length per plantlet (5.16 cm) and mean of root length per plantlet (6.06 cm). The highest number of roots per plantlet (4.7) has been obtained by cultivars Marfona and Savalan. Cultivar Marfona also produced the maximum number of nodes per plantlet (9.2). Investigation of the carbohydrate source showed that the brown sugar has improved the most studied traits and the highest shoot length per plantlet (7.07 cm)and mean of root length per plantlet (6.61) have been obtained by the use of brown sugar. Also, the use of polypropylenecontainer (Vitro vent plant tissue container) improved the different studied characters including shoot length per plantlet(17.96 cm) andmean of root length per plantlet (11.73 cm).
In general, the use of agar–agar, brown sugar and polypropylene container can enhance the micropropagation rate and decrease the production input costs.Polypropylenecontainer has the unique capacity of continuous gas-exchange between the inner volume of the container and the outside environment. There is a continuous supply of fresh air in the container and no accumulation of volatile compounds.

In this research, the acclimatized in vitro plants were transferred to the aeroponic system and the effects of paclobutrazol (PBZ) and jasmonic acid (JA) were investigated on the production of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cvs Agria and Svalan) minitubers. Some plant characteristics were also investigated in this cultivation system, under greenhouse conditions. Plants were foliar sprayed with PBZ (50 and 100 mgL-1) and JA (5 and 10 mgL-1) 30 and 50 days after transplantation (DAT). Significant interactions were observed between plant growth regulators and the time of foliar spraying for plant height, number of minitubers, and fresh and dry weights of minitubers. Also, the results of the analysis of combined experiments showed significant interactions between cultivars, plant growth regulators, and the time of foliar spraying for the number of minitubers and fresh and dry weights of minitubers. The number, fresh and dry weights of minitubers increased by using 5 mgL-1 JA at 30 DAT in cultivar Agria. Also, the use of 5 mgL-1 JA at 30 DAT in cultivar Savalan increased the fresh and dry weights of minitubers. The use of 100 mgL-1 PBZ caused a reduction in plant height and significantly increased the number, fresh and dry weights of minitubers per plant at 50 DAT in cultivar Agria. In cultivar Savalan, 5 mgL-1 JA and 50 mgL-1 PBZ significantly increased the number, fresh and dry weights of minitubers per plant at 50 DAT.

In order to evaluate self and cross-incompatibility on Kashan and Azaran ecotyps of Damask rose (Rosa damascena) was performed based on completely randomized blocks design with four replications in 1391-1392 Crop of years at Research farm of Ttarbiat Modares University. In this way each ecotype pollens used for self and another ecotype, also Dog rose (Rosa canina) applicated as pollinizer for both of them. In order to identify self and cross incompatibility we used two method contain controlled pollination and microscopic studies. Pollination result Obtained from scrutiny development percent, weight, length and hip width and seed production in every hip show that cross pollination by Dog rose was compatibility but other cross were incompatibility. Also twice pollinations had better result. Result show that Microscopic study had similarity result with farm outcome. According to growing pollen tube in style, just pollen tube of Dog rose could get to end of style. Pollen lively was specified by growing tube pollen under in vitro condition. The best Concentration of Acid boric in order to germination was 50 microliter after 24 h and 200 microliter was best treatment for tube growth. According to present results, select of suitable pollinizer and repeat of pollination cycles were effective factors in hybridization of Damask rose, thus controlled cross pollination by twice pollination Dog rose had most appropriate results at measured factors.

Nowadays, the most rapid method for producing healthy and disease-free Lisiantus is micropropagation. With respect to high economic value of this plant which is regarded among the 10 top cutting flowers in the world, this research was carried out to suggest a suitable protocol for its in vitro propagation, using nodal sections as an explant. To carry out this object, the effects of the pH (5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8), culture vessel (small glass bottle, large glass bottle, polypropylene container), the concentration of macro elements, including NH4NO3 (1.45, 1.65, 1.85 g L-1), KNO3 (1.7, 1.9, 2.1 g L-1), CaCl2.2H2O (0.66, 0.44, 0.24 g L-1), MgSO4.7H2O (0.43, 0.37, 0.31 g L-1), KH2PO4 (0.13, 0.17, 0.21 g L-1), and the concentration of sucrose (25, 30, 35, 40 g L-1) were investigated in four independent experiments. The effects of the different studied factors were significant on the shoot regeneration. Results showed that pH 5.7 and the use of 35 g L-1 sucrose in MS medium were the best treatments for improving the number of shoots per explants (2.25 and 2 shoots, respectively). Moreover, increasing KH2PO4 concentration in MS medium produced the highest number of shoots per explant (3.5 shoots). The polypropylene container was also the best culture container for the lisianthus micropropagation (7.5 shoots per explant).

Echinacea is one of the most important medicinal plants and an important source of cichoric acid. In this research, callus induction, indirect shoot regeneration, and shoot rooting of Echinacea angustifolia DC. were investigated. The effects of explant (leaf, petiole and root) and NAA concentrations (0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg l-1) on callus induction as well as the effects of explant (leaf, petiole and root) and BAP concentrations (3, 4 and 5 mg l-1) on the indirect shoot regeneration of callus were evaluated in two separated experiments. The study was conducted as factorial in a completely randomized design (CRD). The effects of IBA concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg l-1) on shoot rooting were also investigated in a completely randomized design. The effects of the factors studied on the callogenesis were not significant while these factors had significant effects on the shoot regeneration and rooting at 1% probability level. In general, the results indicated that the highest indirect shoot regeneration (72%) was obtained from the leaf explant and by the use of 4 mgl-1 BAP. In addition, the highest shoot rooting (38% and 40%) was obtained using 1 and 1.5 mgl-1 IBA. The good potential of this species for indirect shoot regeneration was shown in this research. These results can be used in micropropagation programs, gene transfer, and transgenic plants production.

In this research, the effects of zeatin riboside (0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 mg l-1), duration of heat stress of 35 °C (6, 8, 10 and 12 days) and mannitol (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg l-1) on anther culture of four eggplant cultivars were investigated in independent experiments. These experiments were performed according to a factorial arrangement in a randomized complete blocks design layout. The results showed significant interaction effects between the cultivars and treatments. The highest percentage of embryo-derived plantlets (25%) was obtained in cultivar Chantal using 1 mg l-1 zeatin riboside and 8 days of the heat stress. The results also indicated that the use of 10 mg l-1 mannitol had the highest embryo-derived plantlets (66.6%) in cultivar Chantal. In cultivars Hadrian and Faselis, the ploidy levels of all regenerated plants from anther culture (10 and 21 plants, respectively) were determined through flow cytometry and it was found that 60% and 57.1% of the tested plants were haploid, respectively. In cultivars Chantale and Valentina, 30 regenerated plants were selected for determining their ploidy levels and the results showed that 40.2% and 51.5% of the plants were haploid, respectively.

For centuries, Damask rose has been one of the most popular species of the rose family. Damask rose can be propagated using vegetative methods such as micropropagation. In this research, the use of temporary immersion system was reported for the first time for Damask rose micropropagation. For this reason, a traditional temporary immersion system was designed to facilitate its micropropagation. To optimize this system, the effects of the BAP concentration, immersion time, explant size, number of explants per temporary immersion unit were investigated in the independent experiments using completely randomized design. Temporary immersion system was also compared with the solid and liquid media. The highest shoot number per explant was obtained from a temporary immersion system using an immersion time of 3 min every 150 min (11.8 shoots), a modified MS medium with 6 mg l-1 BAP (12.33 shoots) and explants with shoot length of 4 cm (12.45 shoots). Results indicated that the temporary immersion system was significantly better than solid and liquid media for the shoot number per explant (10.66, 2.56 and 5.66, respectively).

In this research, Echinacea purpurea L. hairy roots were cultured in 1000 ml bubble column bioreactor containing 500 ml WPM liquid medium and the effects of inoculum densities (3, 6 and 9g l-1) and aeration rates (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4vvm) on biomass and cichoric acid production were investigated. Fresh and dry weights and also the cichoric acid content in hairy roots were measured after 30 days. The results showed that the highest amount of biomass (16.4g l-1 fresh weight and 2.084g l-1 dry weight) and cichoric acid (16.74mg g-1 DW) were produced in the inoculum density of 6 gl-1. The investigation of aeration rates on biomass and cichoric acid production showed that the maximum fresh weight (15.4g l-1) and dry weight (2.467g l-1) were obtained in aeration rate of 0.4vvm and the maximum cichoric acid content (12.74mg g-1 DW) was obtained in aeration rate of 0.2vvm. Overall, the inoculum density and aeration rate had considerable effects on the hairy root growth and development in bubble column bioreactor and they should be optimized for obtaining the highest hairy root biomass and secondary metabolites.

Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) is one of the most prevalent viruses of canola fields in Iran. Use of resistant varieties is the best recommended manner to control losses caused by TuMV. In this research, the reaction of 11 commercial varieties and two lines of canola (Brassica napus L.) was investigated against a Netherland TuMV isolate under greenhouse condition. The seedlings were inoculated using TuMV-infected tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) sap at 3-5 leaf stage and their reaction was evaluated based on symptom severity index and ELISA OD405 values at four and the mean values of fresh and dry weights of plants at seven weeks after inoculation. This study was performed in a factorial experiment and randomized complete block design with three replications and each repeat involved four experimental units for each group of inoculated and uninoculated plants. Virus-infection was confirmed by RT-PCR. In accordance with evaluated parameters, reaction of varieties to the virus was significantly different. At probability level of 5%, Karaj3 was tolerant while Karaj2 was the most susceptible, RGS003 and Karaj1 were susceptible and the rest of canola varieties/lines were moderately susceptible to TuMV. Difference of OD405 values in ELISA was meaningless among inoculated plants of canola varieties/lines. Among canola varieties/lines, only fresh and dry weights of Karaj2 line was reduced significantly in virus-infected plants. The scoring system (0 to 8) for the symptoms severity of TuMV in canola was introduced for the first time in this research.